With a newly revamped interface, the big player in the location based social app arena Foursquare just got a bit more social on webOS. One competitor, Gowalla, does not do a whole lot better in that respect – but Streetbrew puts the social aspect front and center. This latest update to Foursquare attempts to do the same and does an admirable job.
The location-based social check-in party is getting to be a bit crowded, but the new guy just walked in with some new kinds of brew and wants to be the life of the party. Newcomer Streetbrew offers location based gaming, chat, news and event announcements, and even cash rewards for creating locations.
Streetbrew does all the same things the popular location-based social check-in apps do (let’s just call them LBC apps to save on the tongue tie factor). Of course you check-in where you are and your friends can be notified in case they want to join you. You can push those check-ins along with comments out to Twitter and Facebook. You can upload pictures at locations. You can claim territories and battle for turf on teams similar to another popular LBC app (*cough*foursquare*cough*). You can get notifications in your dashboard when your friends check-in. That’s all old-hat in the new game of location-based social networking. Going beyond these standard features is where Streetbrew shines.
It’s here! Gowalla, the hotly anticipated location-based social app, has finally hit the App Catalog, joining the likes of Foursquare and BrightKite (check out Parafoil on webOS for that). Like Foursquare, Gowalla allows users can "check-in" to places and alert their friends via the app, Facebook and Twitter to where they are, and app logs all of your travels in a virtual passport. Instead of mayorships, badges and the somewhat competitive nature of Foursquare, Gowalla get virtual goods which can be dropped or picked up in various locations, stamps for places you’ve visited, pins, and a number of "trips" to complete.
The location space in mobile is rapidly heating up, with companies like Yelp, Facebook and Google getting into the game, and it’s great to see these kinds of apps coming to webOS in such short order.
So, Foursquare users: now that you’ve got another choice, how many of you are going to make the switch?
Thanks to everyone that sent this in!
That’s more like it. While the app feeds may still be running behind, the App Catalog itself has shifted back into drive and is moving full steam ahead. There’s plenty of newness in there from the last app drop, including location-based social networking-like apps Streetbrew and Gowalla. Coolness, eh? And of course, there are plenty of other apps, including games, reference tools, and the obligatory public domain book or two. It’s all after the break, in the alphabetized lists you know and love.